First Indian Air Force C295MW handed over
On 13 September 2023, Airbus Defence and Space formally handed over the first Bharatiya Vayu Sena (IAF, Indian Air Force) C295MW transporter. The aircraft with serial CA7101 (c/n 209) is equipped with an Indian Electronic Warfare Suite. It will be delivered in a few days by a joint IAF/Airbus crew.
In September 2021, the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the large defence deal with the procurement of 56 Airbus C295MW transport aircraft to replace the current fleet of BAe748. Sixteen aircraft will be bought off-the-shelf and forty will be manufactured in India at the new Airbus-Tata consortium (Tata Advanced Systems Ltd - TASL) facility at Vadodara in the state of Gujarat.
The aircraft build at Sevilla/San Pablo (Spain) will be supplied in a period of two years. The deliveries of the locally-assembled aircraft will be spread over an additional eight years.
Credit photo: Airbus Defence and Space